Testimonials:

Patrick’s Primary School has been able to create a powerful vision statement that is leading us onward, compelling our direction into the future. Our Vision and supporting principles have been sustained through changing school leadership and guide our strategic thinking, planning and daily actions as a school. IDEAS has led to clarity, through the filtering process, ensuring we have named what is essential for us as a 21st century school community at St Patrick’s.

Too often, schools mark time. If they do make changes, such changes can often be reactive and piecemeal .

The IDEAS program, and its comprehensive measurement tool, the DISA (Diagnostic Inventory of School Alignment), allowed our College to challenge what we do, what we plan to do, and what we assume we do, through the lens of learning as a whole school. The development of our School-wide Pedagogy was a crucial step towards ensuring all functions of the College- teaching programs, extra-curricula, even buildings and facilities- are focused on improving, developing and delivering our core purpose in a manner aligned with our core purpose: learning. Perhaps the greatest marker of its success is the quality of conversations within the College and the shared learning-centred language used by staff, students and families alike.

I commend IDEAS as a highly focused, collaborative, whole school approach to meaningful and innovative improvement.

[DISA] The rich data that is presented in an easy to digest fashion greatly assists schools in recognising the various perspectives of its stakeholders – namely its students, parents and staff. The data analysis is easy to understand and allows school leaders to gain valuable information that is vital to the process of strategically designing a vision for learning that is relevant to its community context. As school principal, I have been involved in using the DISA to assist the school move forward in its attempt to create the optimum learning and teaching environment. Gathering the perceptions of all stakeholders allowed us to create an excellent platform from which to start purposeful planning. In my opinion, the Diagnostic Inventory of School Alignment is an excellent tool that enables relevant members of the school community to be heard, thereby giving them a voice and opportunity to be an integral part of the school’s planning process.